Sum-sum-summertime! A few random thoughts before I forget them…

As Labor Day approaches, marking the unofficial end of summer, now’s a good time to reflect back on quite an eventful three months. Between work, travelling, VBS, and a few other random happenings, there’s been loads of time to formulate thoughts and opinions…most of them odd and none of them important enough to earn their own post. So here they are (aka short attention-span blogging):

I don’t understand how certain people actually enjoy spending time at work. Maybe I did at one point, but the more I work, the more I enjoy my downtime. Maybe it’s a shift in my priorities, maybe I’m just getting lazier. I have no idea, but I dread going in to work these days. At times, it seems like a change in job or even in career would help, but sometimes, I’m not even sure that would solve anything. Maybe it’s time to retire…go make balloon animals for sport or something.

I’m fairly convinced the incubating conditions at a kid’s day-camp like VBS is slightly better than a petri dish. We had one person out with stomach flu…within 3 days, half the kids have it. And that’s WITH purell. This is probably how the plague managed to wipe out 1/3 of Europe. All it takes is a group of kids coughing and sneezing on each other.

The TV show New Girl is hilarious…I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this show until a 12hr flight between HK and SFO. Well…I’ll be watching for the season premier this September.

I want to go to Hawaii. I know…humid weather is my arch-nemesis, so why in the world would I want to go to Hawaii?? It’s quiet, relaxed, and I can wear all the Hawaiian shirts I want and not have anyone look at me funny.

I don’t understand how the Huffington Post has so many followers. The headlines are so outrageous and the reporting so suspect that it comes across (at best) as a cross between the National Inquirer and the Onion.

The Shanghai motto of Better City, Better Life, unveiled during the 2010 Expo, sounds much better than Not Only Hot but Humid

I haven’t heard anything from Roseanne’s presidential campaign in a while…did she withdraw?

Jeff Foxworthy has a new game show called The American Bible Challenge, which is a bible-trivia type game on the Game Show Network. I didn’t get to see the premier, but apparently it was got the most ratings in the history of the GSN, which isn’t really saying much. I think I’ve watched that channel maybe once in the last 10 years, and that was by accident. I’m curious in seeing how this show will pan out, especially after people realize that there are other shows playing on Thursday nights.

Alright, that’s enough ranting for now. I either forgot the rest or am too ashamed to recount them. I’ll post again if I think of anything else.

today's feast day...

Not sure if you know, but in the catholic religion, there are many feast days commemorating various events in Church history. Now, these are not days where people gather together and have an actual feast, but I’m sure some catholic churches will have mass on these days. Anywho…today’s feast day is the Feast Day of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (Aug. 29th). I know…kind of odd thing to be creating into a feast day I suppose. But wait…it gets juicer. Apparently there are two other feast days associated with this feast day:

First and Second Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist (Feb. 24th)
Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist (May 25th)

No joke, apparently John the Baptist’s head has been found, not once, not twice, but thrice (and thus presumably lost three times as well). Anyways, the fragmented head purported to be from John the Baptist is now on display at San Silvestro in Capite in Rome. Islamic tradition claims his head is buried in Damascus, and have erected a shrine to it at the Umayyad Mosque. Apparently, muslims believe that Jesus will return to this location during the second coming.

The whole feast day (and associated feast days) and relics associated with the beheading of John the Baptist seem kinda odd to me, but nevertheless, Wikipedia has all this info on it, so who am I to argue. Well anyways… in case you wondered what today was…

50 beans | the boring-est subject ever...

Have you ever wondered whether your drink selection or choice of drink equipment conveys certain notions about you? I believe it does, and here’s my logic…

A few months ago, I had an early morning meeting, so before I head to the conference room, I went down to pick up a cup of coffee. Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might have surmised that I’m an iced coffee person. There’s nothing wrong with hot coffee; as a matter of fact I enjoy hot coffee all the time, but my preference is usually for iced coffee. Well I picked up my iced double espresso, added a little bit of half-and-half, and went back upstairs to the conference room. As I walked in, I noticed some of my coworkers coming in with coffee too. Some had the office coffee in paper cups, others had gone down to Starbucks or Temple and picked up some coffees (hot) and were also getting settled in to their seats.

As I sat down, they all looked at my drink (well most of them). The condensation had started to collect on the side of my cup and was slowly dripping down and collecting in a pool on the table. The second I picked up my cup, *drip drip* it went across my notebook and a little on my shirt. As I sipped my drink from the little green straw protruding from the lid of my drink, I realized that I was the odd man out. In a room of hot drinks, I was sipping from a straw on a cold drink. With water drippings on my notes and shirt. *sigh*

Since that day, I’ve never gotten an iced drink when I have morning meetings. While everyone else is sipping their hot coffee out of paper cups and paying attention during the meeting, you’re busy worried about drying the side of your cup and slurping from a straw like a kid. Did it seem less professional? Sure, I think it does a little bit. Of course I’m also the guy that thinks that drinking from a bendy straw makes you less of a man, so maybe my logic is flawed somehow, or I’m just a little more sensitive about my coffee drinking apparatus than others.

So, to conclude, hot drinks are for meetings; cold drinks are for when you’re alone in your cubicle and have access to paper towels. Happy sipping!

the AMAZING Aroma-Disk!!!

Ok so late last night i was at my local am-pm because i needed gas and, well shoot, cuz i wanted some peanuts. I don't know why, but they sell these peanuts in little planters tubes...pretty good and they don't go bad as fast. Anyways...I was standing in line with the spare change from my car and a tube of peanuts when suddenly, i noticed at the register, they had these little air fresheners on the counter for like...50 cents. Nay, not just an air freshener...but the amazing AROMA-DISK!!

My sleep-deprived mind started convincing myself that this is clearly the way to go. Just as an fyi, there's been some weird smell coming from the airvents in my car after the AC goes off...it's probably the condensation in the AC mildewing over...but i'm almost convinced something like a cricket or a miniature squirrel died in there. Soooo I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the smell!

As i got up to the counter, I sorted through some random flavors: cherry? nah...not a big fan. As a matter of fact, we can probably cross off the twinkleberry, lavender peach, and some of the other frou-frou flavors as well. Vanilla? Somehow i'd think that it would just be too much after a while. Cinnamon? Also may be overpowering. New car? NEW CAR?? They make a scent like stamped plastic and glue?? interesting...but maybe not this time. Finally, i see spring rain in the corner of the assorted 144-pack box. Hmm...interesting, and not too awkward smelling. Ok! let's give this a shot! I pay for the peanut tube and the aroma-disk and walked/moseyed/skipped happily to my car to test out the amazingness that was promised on the packaging. I flipped over the packet to find the instructions awaiting:

Can be placed in/on: vehicle floorboards, gym bags, sneakers, under trashcan liners, dried flower arrangements, or other areas where you can find a place to put aroma-disk.

Caution: keep off plastic, vinyl, wood, upholstery, and painted surfaces - may cause damage. (writer's note: essentially all parts of a car...)

For health emergency: Contact physician/poison control center immediately.

hmm...a little scary but ok. So i opened the little packet, hoping to be taken to a magical world by this little corkboard disk. I place it in the coin area and started driving, making sure the AC was off to see if the smell would be masked. *sigh* You know the smell when a miniature squirrel dies, and all the other squirrels send flowers? Well...that's what it smelled like.

You disappoint me, Aroma-Disk.

it's madness.

I started watching Mad Men while flying back from Singapore...it's a show about a Madison Avenue advertising agency, set in the early 1960's. Well, there really wasn't that much to say in this post, just that this is arguably the best clip from season 1:

sac: a sunny place for shady people.

Ever since dropping my phone in the snow, the camera works only about 1/3 of the time, and the phone functionality only works half of the time. With that said, I’ve recently been on the lookout for a cell phone to use until I can renew my contract in a few months. I’ve been trying out craigslist, but I’ve only had two experiences on there, so I’d have to describe my CL experience as fairly limited. At a cursory glance, all the listings look slightly shady. I have noticed the following trends on craigslist though:

It seems that there are quite a few people who receive iphone 4’s as gifts, with no box and occasionally bad serial numbers. Odd…didn’t know that was a hot gift item this time of year.

It also seems that at least 10 people in the Sac area have been buying smartphones for their significant others the week before they break-up. I wonder if there’s ever been a study done on that…is there a correlation between buying your girlfriend an iphone and them dumping you soon thereafter? Very interesting indeed.

There are also people offering to add you to their family plan at a discounted rate…this strikes me as a little dumb…because if they have a phone on your account…can’t they just rack-up the bill every month and you’d be saddled with the cost? Why on earth would you offer such a thing…

So I decided to steer away from this place for a while…maybe on ebay it’ll be better. So I decide to do a few searches on ebay. Some of these listings look pretty legit, with sealed brand new phones and all, but some of these are downright shady as well. Some of these guys are offering ones that are listed as ones with bad ESNs (read: reported stolen). Of course ebay is perfectly fine with these sales - no red flags popping up in their system – very comforting.

At this point, pretty much any buy on craigslist or ebay is going to land me in hot water…maybe falling off the grid for the next few months will do me some good.

the ideal pet.

Over the last few months I've been contemplating getting a pet. Now, bear in mind that I have not had a long term pet before (aside from a few dozen goldfish and a mouse named Sparky back in 7th grade), this is quite a tough decision for me to make. Granted, pets (other than goldfish and mice) generally stay with you for 10-20 years (assuming I can keep said pet alive long enough), so this is quite a commitment too. Will I be able to take care of such an animal? Will the pet be better in the hands of a more experienced pet owner? And even if I can find answers to these two burning questions, what kind of characteristics should I look for in such an animal?

Aside from dating and future spouse commitment, I think this is the single largest relationship commitment a guy at my age can make (I could be wrong). With such a large commitment, I need to carefully consider the qualities I look for in a pet. Since I have my four rules for dating a girl, I also should have an idea of what my ideal pet will be. I know, I know…there no such thing as the perfect animal. They all have their flaws. They’ll drool on you when you’re sleeping, or poop where they’re not supposed to, or even bark in the middle of the night, or dig through dry wall and chew up your furniture. But they will also have their awesome times. They’ll keep you company when you’re lonely, or entertain you when you’re bored, and will be your friend when you need one. But since we’re still talking hypotheticals, I have my perfect pet in mind.

It’d be cool to have a pet that is decent sized. None of that miniature, fit in your backpack/murse/totebag crap. It’d be cool if the ideal pet was rideable (in case I got tired of walking I’d be able to ride said perfect pet). The perfect pet would, of course, have to be cute. Furriness is optional. Perfect pet would also poop in pellets, or even better, not at all. It’d be cool to have a pet that ate anything and everything, and whatever it didn’t digest, it’d just spit right out (preferably dry) or pooped in a pellet. It’d be nice for the ideal pet to fly, though that is optional. Firebreathing is optional too.

Basically, my perfect pet would look like this:

Well…there’s no such thing as a perfect pet, but this guy sure comes close. I dunno…maybe this is too optimistic. We’ll see if anything else comes close...

traveling oddities

If you know me fairly well, you'd know that I talk a lot about things that I'm passionate about. If you follow this blog regularly, you'd know that i like listing miscellaneous thoughts from time to time, and on occasion, I will embark on a rant. This is a mix of both I suppose:

Apparently I have an aversion to busses. As a matter of fact, if there is a subway station that will require a bit of walking, or a bus that will take me straight to the doorstep of my destination, I will opt for the subway.

It's become shockingly apparent that the one child rule was an epic failure. After recent conversations with some ppl in the older generations, I've come to realize that the one child rule in china has bred a generation of children so spoiled that parents don't even trust their children anymore.

I hate kids. Well, let me clarify: in certain circumstances, I hate kids. They're cute when they're nice to me and smile and are polite. They tolerable when they're not polite but aren't annoying me too much. However, when I'm on a 10 hour flight that is 85% kids from a Chinese school field trip to the US, and they're sitting all around me, and a foodfight erupts, I hate kids.

China becomes less appealing to me each time I go back. I'm not sure why. There was a time when I thought I'd be perfectly content working and living in Shanghai. Now the place just gets on my nerves.

Singapore's mascot is the Merlion. Apparently the Merlion is a mythical creature. If you show up at the Singapore zoo and ask where the Merlion is kept, they will laugh at you.

The xiaolongbao's in Shanghai's YuYuan has garnered such a reputation for long lines that people are now readily willing to pay the extra $$ to go upstairs and dine in. Apparently nobody wants to wait the reputed 2+hours to get some xiaolongbao's to-go, which means the wait time has gotten surprisingly shorter. How short? I only had to wait 11 min...

The food pricing scheme in Singapore confuses me at times. I love that I can get a bowl of laksa or fish-ball noodles for $3, but a bowl of ramen set me back roughly $20.

Humid weather and I do not get along. Never have, never will. Don't get me wrong, Shanghai has been fun, and I love Singapore, but I never thought I'd long for Sacramento weather so much.

Stingray's pretty tasty.

The maglev train has gotten slower. I guess the HSR accident scared officials, and so now the train goes at a top-speed of 301km/hr (it used to go 470km/hr). Sad to see that instead of learning from accidents and implementing safety improvements, they just curb technological achievements and leave it at that. At this rate, the maglev will be doomed to the same fate as the Concorde.

I love the fact that Singapore's a city and a country at the same time. I made the mistake of asking if I was in the international terminal. Apparently when there's only one airport, it's kinda hard to have domestic flights.

Well, with a 2 year multi-visit visa, I could totally see myself going again...